Frenchman Coulee, Washington

When Missoula Flood waters spilled across Washington, they flooded the Quincy
Basin which is bounded on the west and south by low anticlinal ridges. More or
less simultaneously the floods spilled south into the Drumheller Channels south
of Moses Lake and west into the Columbia River near Quincy. The spillways into
the Columbia near Quincy carved two large cataract channels and several smaller
ones. The two largest are the Potholes Cataracts southwest of Quincy and
Frenchman Coulee just north of I-90.

Frenchman Coulee is easily accessible off I-90. Follow the signs for the
Gorge Amphitheater (Silica Road) and take the left onto Vantage Road. This is a popular
rock-climbing area, and extended hiking and parking will require a use permit.
Although there are numerous roads in the area, they are reserved for official
use only.

Silica Road is named for quarries that extract silica-cemented diatomaceous
earth from interbeds in the basalts, by the way.

On the opposite side of the river is Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, and
roads in the park probably offer good views of the coulee, especially after
noon. I haven't been there yet.

Looking
east toward the entrance to Frenchman Coulee. Unlike the spectacular Dry
Falls gorge, a road goes down into Frenchman Coulee.

Also
unlike Dry Falls, a waterfall drops into Frenchman Coulee.

So
do cars, presumably pushed off rather than driven off. Although
there are places one wonders.

This is looking west toward the mouth of the
gorge and the Columbia River. The road down the gorge is in the notch at
upper left and basically clinging to the cliff. There are numerous roads on
the floor of the gorge but they are off-limits without official permission.

Below: Panoramic view of upper Frenchman Coulee. This is a truly wonderful
place and this first overlook just takes your breath away. Note the gentle but
quite definite anticline near the mouth of the gorge and syncline just left
(west) of the waterfall.

This
wall of standing basalt columns, only one column thick, is a popular stop.

The
outlet of Frenchman Coulee

Looking
back up Frenchman Coulee

Small
cataract south of the standing columns

The
southern cataract

Looking
south down the Columbia River from the mouth of Frenchman Coulee

End
of the road. Despite the name, the road does not extend to the hamlet of
Vantage where I-90 crosses the river.

Below: Panoramic view of the Columbia River from the mouth of Frenchman
Coulee

Left
and below: The southern and smaller cataract. The map shows a deep dry
plunge pool not visible from this vantage point.

Left
and below: Flood-carried boulders at the mouth of Frenchman Coulee

Left
and below: Views up Frenchman Coulee

The
waterfall with an isolated pedestal in the foreground

Left
and below: columnar jointing in the basalt

Left
and below: fresh angular jointing in the road cut grading upward into
spheroidal weathering.

Scabland
terrain near Frenchman Coulee as seen from I-90.

The Potholes Cataracts are actually much bigger than Frenchman Coulee but less conveniently accessible.
There are roads from the east and north that offer access to public hunting and
fishing, but the coulees require fairly long hikes. The numerous roads are for
official use only and closed to public traffic (though open to hiking.) If you
park at any of the access areas for an extended time you will need a state use
permit.

This is a practice that is becoming more widespread and to which I am
adamantly opposed. Public land is public - the public pays for it and
should have access to it. If people want to be couch potatoes, fine. They can
pay for their bypass operations out of their own pockets. But don't charge
people who are doing something constructive with their time to save money to
provide services to those who don't. And if that strikes you as elitist, it's
your Constitutional right to say so, and mine to ignore you.

View
east across the Quincy Basin. The sediment on the valley floor is thick
flood sand and gravel.

Left
and below: head of one of the potholes cataract coulees.

Left
and below: several small ponds have been impounded in the coulees